Help with research

[Mark McIntyre]

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 17:33:48 +0000, in comp.lang.c , Mark McIntyre

(the same thing, several blasted times)

sorry, news service fscking up again, sending back random "failed" messages
to my poor old newsreader.

 

[osmium]

:Q:"Have you or members of your immediate family ever rented a video
tape?"
:A:
:yes 85%
:no 11%
:no response 4%.

:If this is done right you can conclude that somewhere around 80% or so of
:the non-institutionalized adults under 80 years old have indeed rented a
:video tape.

But it isn't done right -- instead, the question gets asked at
video rental stores and in movie-related newsgroups. With self-
selection, you seldom reach the non-affluent or minorities.
People who spend a lot of time in comp.lang.c are those with
leisure time, which implies at least moderately well off; their
opinions and cognative styles could be quite different from the
person who is a business programmer by day and a movie usher by night
to make ends meet.

I didn't want to spend the entire fucking afternoon detailing what "done
right" means. But it doesn't include pestering people in a video rental
store. Please try to read and understand the post I was responding to, not
the distorted, clipped version above where "this" has no contextual
meaning.. Focus on finding the word "real".

 

[Eric Chan]

I'm a Java/C++ developer who is also studying psychology.

I would really appreciate it if you would complete a survey that I'm
using for a research project on programmers.

It's easy [Yes/No answers] and takes about 5 minutes.

I will be presenting the results at the American Psychological
Association convention in August.

The study link is:

http://www.elena.com

The survey measures "cognitive style" (analytical/intuitive) which
describes how you process information and learn. The people I've
pre-tested it with found it to be pretty interesting.

I can go to my friends, however it occurred to me that it might be
better to post in a newsgroup and get a larger, more diverse, and
random sample.

Thanks again for your time,

Elena

Wondering why so many people start dicussing on this topic that is not
about C language (including me), which is obviously different from the
situation for topics asking about C++, java, assignments, etc.


Eric

 

[CBFalconer]

(the same thing, several blasted times)

sorry, news service fscking up again, sending back random
"failed" messages to my poor old newsreader.

It's not as if it were the first time. Maybe you should consider
one or more of: new news service; new newsreader.

 

[Mark McIntyre]

Maybe you should consider
one or more of: new news service;

Who's paying?

new newsreader.

Same question...

 

[Mark McIntyre]

But it isn't done right

Then theres no point discussing it is there?

With self-
selection, you seldom reach the non-affluent or minorities.

Even if you do the survey in bars in minority areas and slum housing
estates?

Get real. Its merely a matter of designing the target audience properly.

 

[Walter Roberson]

:On 16 Feb 2005 23:00:02 GMT, in comp.lang.c , (e-mail address removed)-cnrc.gc.ca
Walter Roberson) wrote:

:>But it isn't done right

:Then theres no point discussing it is there?

Mark, you must have made a typo in my email address when you
plonked me last week. You may wish to check in case you accidently
inserted a 't' in my last name.

 

[Stephan Schulz]

It is even more wrong - the question is imprecise, and the analysis is
massively flawed. You can deduce (maybe) that 80% or so of the
non-institutionalized adults under 80 years old either have rented a
tape, or have a family member ("immediate" is bad as well, as it can
be interpreted arbitrarily) that has rented a tape. You are likely to
overestimate. I would have answered yes (my mother has rented tape, as
has my girl friend), but neither I nor my sister even own a VCR.

Bye,

Stephan